About Heschel

When The Abraham Joshua Heschel School was founded in 1983, a new model of Jewish day school was created. Named after one of the great Jewish leaders, teachers, and activists of the twentieth century, The Heschel School opened with a commitment to creating a pluralistic Jewish community dedicated to the values that characterized Rabbi Heschel’s life: intellectual exploration, respect, integrity, love of the Jewish people and tradition, and a commitment to social justice.

Admissions

Welcome to The Abraham Joshua Heschel School. We are a unique pluralistic Jewish day school, emphasizing academic excellence as well as awareness of social and communal responsibility through an offering of a superb integrated curriculum of general and Judaic studies.

Parents' Association

The PA is comprised of all parents in the school, including Early Childhood, Lower School, Middle School, and High School. We foster communication between the parent body and the administration, faculty, and staff. Throughout the year, we engage families by creating and producing community-building and educational programs.Visit the Parent PortalMy BackPackImportant DatesParent Manual

Support Heschel

There is no other school in New York City quite like Heschel. Across our curriculum, we foster academic excellence, as well as a love of learning and exploration and an emphasis on critical thinking. Your partnership is invaluable and we appreciate all the ways that you work with us to strengthen our school and our community.

The vibrant academic life at Heschel encompasses all aspects of our general and Judiac studies programming, as well as college counseling, our Holocaust Archives Center, and opportunities for performing acts of hesed.

The educational philosophy of The Abraham Joshua Heschel School is grounded in a strong curriculum which requires each student to seek personal meaning in that curriculum. Our concern for the whole child is reflected in attention to and the balance between intellectual and emotional growth. We emphasize values and moral education. We view concern for the child’s emotional development, the quality of relationships among students and staff, and reaching out to others as critical components of such an education.

Our educational program is designed to develop skills of inquiry and expression, and to foster understanding of the self and others. We provide models of excellence in our staff and program and emphasize the importance of hard work in the pursuit of achievement. Goals for each school year are viewed in the context of our longer range vision of education as a developmental process.

Teaching at Heschel is guided by the principle that children learn by doing. We believe that acquiring knowledge through experience enhances the student’s understanding of life in school as well as outside of it and enables him/her to better understand his or her world. We are mindful that exploratory learning requires structure and that spontaneity coexists with, and indeed may be cultivated through, a skillfully ordered environment. Reliable routines facilitate purposeful investigation. We seek a balance of freedom and boundaries which together cultivate inner discipline.

Our ultimate goal is to develop individuals who are seekers and learners, to educate people who integrate Jewish values in all areas of their lives, and who feel a deep responsibility to the larger world within which they live.

Above all, remember that you must build your life as if it were a work of art.